Boat Project - take 10

How long have we been at this?   I guess I should ask, how long have we not been at this.  I went back through my blog to see when we got the boat "free" on Craigslist but can't find the post.  I think it was at least 3 years ago.   I did see we began putting the posts in for the deck in December 2012.

So, we're back at it and this time we're going to at least finish the deck.  Hopefully we'll get to fixing up the boat this year too.  The deck is in the shape of the boat, kind of.

The boat is pretty well land-locked now.  Only a flood can carry it away and soon we'll have it anchored so that can't happen....hopefully.   Building this reminds me of building our outdoor kitchen.  It's a fun project that doesn't have to be done but will be a fun place to play.  As is our style, we didn't think ahead when we planned the deck because fastening joist hangers to round posts and figuring out how to lay boards on a deck that is not square makes the job way more difficult than we expected.  We're making it up as we go along and taking one step at a time.  Once again the phrase "good enough for who it's for" will have to apply.  When the deck is done we'll be able to pressure wash the boat from above and then paint it and make it water tight.  Lastly will come the interior.  As of now we just plan to build a platform bed in there but we'll see how carried away we get.

We're already in the planning stages for how to shade the deck.  We've ordered some poles from which we'll hang one or 2 shade sails.  Kind of like this.

Part of the plan for the deck was also so we can store kayaks, chairs, etc. under it.

We're having fun.  I hope the next time I blog about this will be in 2014 and not 2016.  Even though we won't be launching the boat in the river, I look forward to breaking a bottle of champagne on the bow sometime in the near future.